Pioneer McClain dies at age 101

6:41 PM,
Feb. 5, 2014

Judge William McClain died at age 101.

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A decorative doorknob is displayed in a Cincinnati City Hall conference room that formerly was the office of the city's top lawyer.

It is dedicated to William McClain, a legal trailblazer who the first black to be named a major city's Solicitor when the Republican got that job in 1963 after serving 20 years in the department.

The doorknob was taken from the Solicitor's office and, in a common gesture at the time, given to McClain when he left that job in 1972 to commemorate his work there. He took it with him to his job as an attorney in the private law practice. He worked for years in the law firm of Tim ...